Neck clip carriers are commonly used to carry beverage bottles, particularly large plastic bottles which are formed with a flange or collar on the neck just below the bottle cap. Openings in the bottom of the carrier permit the carrier to be moved down over the tops of the bottles to be packaged. The lower edges of openings in the side panels of the carrier engage the underside of the bottle flanges and support the bottles during lifting and carrying.
Normally, a neck clip carrier designed to carry two bottles is provided with finger holes in the side panels between the bottles. In this location the finger holes can readily be grasped and the bottles are balanced when the carrier is lifted. Problems are encountered, however, in carriers designed to carry three bottles. The middle bottle occupies the space in the center of the carrier where finger holes normally would be, forcing the finger holes to be located on either side of the bottle. This is not feasible where large size bottles are involved because the finger holes would be too far apart to be grasped.
Attempts have been made to provide a handle that extends up over the bottles to enable the handle to be centered, but the handles in these cases have not been entirely satisfactory. Because the handle panel extends up above the tops of the bottles, it interferes with the stacking of carriers for shipping and storage. In addition, the handle openings are often uncomfortable to the hand in use, offering a minimum of surface area to be grasped, with the result that the handle edges press into the hand. If the handle is made larger, however, the great amount of stress on the handle openings during use in combination with the proximity of the handle opening to the edge of the handle panel can make the handle panel vulnerable to tearing.
It is an object of the invention to provide a handle for a neck clip bottle carrier that can be used in a three-bottle, carrier. It is also an object to provide a handle of this type which is able to resist tearing and is comfortable to the hand.